Got a Roku 3 for Christmas.

Works great; viewed a few Youtube videos, but haven't set up Hulu+ yet since I'm not sure I want to spend $10/month for the service yet. The quality is excellent; pretty impressed. Using direct wired input since I don't trust wireless (turned off all my wireless inputs from my Cable model (or I should say AT&T modem). I do have a lot to learn about the device and will do so over the next few days/weeks. Just hope that my credit card doesn't get charged for things I didn't want to be charged for. When my AT&T contract is up, I'm probably going to hose my cable and exclusively use Roku for my TV; haven't decided yet. Anybody here hosed their cable and only using streaming access? Just curious.

I am looking for a solution that allows me to easily view regular Hulu on TV. BTW do they still have advertisements on Hulu + ?? The Roku type thing seems like a better option than a smart, slow and soon to be obsolete tv. Enjoy.

David
Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

Haven't played with Hulu on it yet; don't want to commit (purchase) since I still pay for cable and my contract won't end for another 8 months. Still, I do supposedly get 3 months for free but haven't decided it to be worth committing my credit card for the service yet. Hate to admit to this, but I even unplugged the power after toying with it and haven't plugged it back in yet. lol

Still, when I get in the mood to experiment more, I'll will. I can say that I am quite impressed with the quality.

Works great; viewed a few Youtube videos, but haven't set up Hulu+ yet since I'm not sure I want to spend $10/month for the service yet. The quality is excellent; pretty impressed.

I just got a Roku 3 myself, and while hooking it up and attempting the registration they asked for my credit card info (and or Paypal info) while never saying ANYTHING about what they were charging me for?....sure I'm just going to give out that info willy-nilly ??

It was only when I read the installation booklet that I finally discovered this was just in case I ordered a 'paid service'. But then why couldn't they WAIT until I ordered a paid service?
It just seems like there are SO MANY retail entities that just expect us to hand over this financial info on line....and up front. OK, that rant is done.

I do have a lot to learn about the device and will do so over the next few days/weeks. Just hope that my credit card doesn't get charged for things I didn't want to be charged for.

I'm going to hook mine up today, and see what all this big fuse about streaming video is about. I've heard good things. I'm a little concerned about what the ultimate impact on internet speed connections will be when everyone begins to stream video,...doesn't that take up a lot of 'bandwidth' (speaking in old-time terms) ?

Anybody here hosed their cable and only using streaming access? Just curious.

That's what I have in mind since I do not watch that much TV, and I will be out of the country for extended periods of time, ...why pay those big cable bills monthly.

However that is my next big battle,...with Comcast. I just wanted a decent internet connection with enough capacity to stream video. When I first googled what sort of speed was required for good streaming, I got info that anything a little bit better than 3Mbps was enough. So I contracted with Comcast for 6Mbps,...that should be plenty...right?

Got my first bill and it was for $10 more per month than contracted for, and I find I am being 'throttled' to approx. 3.6Mbps

Got my second bill, and my monthly rate is now $20 more per month, and a bunch of 'installation charges', and same slow speed (I was told on a phone call that this would be fixed upwards as agreed upon originally). This Comcast company is a scam machine !! ...and a Monoply

I agree with you about the credit card issue, but I did set it up. I have a secure credit card that has a limited amount of credit and I check it often so I'm not too concerned since I will dispute any charges that are wrong. lol

Hope you get out of the Roku what you intended it for beiland. I will experiment with casting this weekend (just used the default settings this past weekend). I don't (nor plan to) have a smartphone so still using the PC (via Roku's website) to do the setup stuff. Still, it's nice to see the video on the big tube. My TV also has HDMI so did hook up the PC to the TV and, well, let's just say, my computer monitor is 10 times better. lol

Instead of using a Roku, thought I could just connect my PC straight into my TV and use the TV for both computer monitor and TV viewer. Again, though it was sort of alright for TV, it was terrible as a computer monitor. lol

Yes; I could too using the said setup; the quality just stinks. Anyway, there was already a Roku app in Win8 so played with it; very limited but cool. Anyone have any good resources for mp4 files? Got casting working for that (and the few mp4 links I knew of). Youtube, unfortunately, is a tedious adventure since I wouldn't get the text to sink with the Roku search for whatever reason. Apparently no live channels worth mentioning either. Still, I did enjoy watching a few videos from youtube. Definitely good quality.

For whatever reason, the History Channel didn't have U-Verse as a cable provider, so I couldn't see any videos from the History Channel; a few others also didn't have U-Verse. Other channels did. Not sure what the situation is with this but not a happy camper. Oh well. Still, it's amazing all the videos that are available on demand; I know the same could be seen in your browser, but you have that nice factor when you see it full screen on your TV. I need to get an optical cable so that I can hook my TV sound to my external speaker amp (TV sound alright, but no where near as good as my external speaker system which I hooked my cable to via AV connectors but my TV doesn't have AV connector output; only optical for whatever reason).

I've been using two roku3's for a couple of years now. I get to watch all of my Amazon prime tv shows and movies. I also have Netflix and Hulu and a british Hululike company called Acorn for british tv shows. I am hooked up to Comcast cable with a 60 Mbps connection. I never have a problem with bandwidth. Crackle is a free (advertisement based) movie channel from Sony Pictures which is also very good. With the plex app you can view videos stored on your computer and can connect with friends to view their videos. It works great. Comcast gave me basic cable for $3 a month as an add-on to my internet service so now i get to watch the free on demand stuff also. I never run out of something to watch. Never had a problem with Hulu plus or Netflix overbilling my credit card. Acorn is a $50 a year subscription so no problem there and Amazon prime video comes free with my Amazon prime account. Hulu's commercials are short and don't bother me much, Netflix and Acorn and Amazon don't have commercials. My son gave me a Fire TV stick for Christmas and it works pretty much like the ROKU, no problems so far. Youtube works great on both devices and on my TIVO recorder which will also do Netflix and HULU plus, but I like the menus better on the ROKU.

Thanks for the feedback caveman. Just finished watching several news feeds and also some Youtube videos. Now watching live news. Just wish there was a live news channel out there that can stream to Roku; maybe you might know of one. Slingshot sounds like a cool concept too (it's a paid service but they livestream to Roku and other streaming devices). Maybe because I'm still learning that I just don't know of any live feeds out there yet. Regardless, I so see myself getting rid of my TV package (have UReach so can't call it cable; lol) when my contract comes up and then I'll probably pay for Amazon Prime to get the programs they have along with Hulu+ and Netflix and still save money over cable.

Just purchased Amazon Prime; $72 today only. I'm beyond overwhelmed of the number of movies/shows included witht just being a Prime member. Also can purchase things for discount/free shipping et.al. but I don't buy things often. Still, I'm enjoying the Roku. Still amazed at the flawless play quality even w/ just a 20mb/s connection that UVerse gives me. Who needs cable (other then news; keeping an eye on slingshot since it supposedly will offer real-time programs for Roku).